The detection and identification of persons is steadily gaining importance. At international border crossings, for example, checking of identity documents (ID documents) is essential. Increasingly, fingerprints of more than one phalanx are also recorded and compared against databases.
One border control scenario consists in crossing the border in an automobile. In the near future, all of the passengers in the automobile will have fingerprints recorded for all ten fingers. At least, four fingers (without thumbs) of a hand should be recorded simultaneously in order to avoid errors in the recording sequence (and therefore in associating the image with the respective finger). Further, recording a plurality of fingers simultaneously promises to speed up the process compared to consecutive recordings. An image of the driver's license or of another personal document (ID document) will also be recorded.
When using arrangements or equipment known from the prior art, the passengers must exit the vehicle and have their fingerprints taken at a stationary device in the border control building. Arrangements such as those used in other border crossing scenarios, e.g., in international airports, can also be used in this case. Stationary fingerprint reading devices and additional document reading equipment are mostly used. However, there are also already prior art devices which can record documents and fingerprints with one and the same device (DE 10 2015 116 026 A1). This can save time during the recording process. Recording documents and fingerprints consecutively over the same placement surface prevents mistakes due to erroneous association of more than one placement surface. A device which can read fingerprints as well as documents also would appear to be cheaper to produce than two separate devices.
However, the stationary configuration described above for capturing fingerprints and possibly ID documents still has the disadvantage that the passengers must exit the vehicle. On the other hand, there are also prior art concepts for mobile fingerprint reading devices such as those described, e.g., in U.S. Pat. No. 6,886,104 B1 or 8,036,431 B2 which are suitable to be transported by the control official (e.g., border official) to the person to be recorded. However, these devices are not designed for recording a plurality of fingers simultaneously, and documents can also not be recorded over the same placement surface.
Devices for capturing images of personal identification features in other border crossing scenarios, e.g., border control for trains, also have requirements similar to those for border crossings by automobiles. But it is also preferable in other fields of application to transport a reading device to the person whose identity is to be recorded and/or checked, e.g., retail credit card transactions, registration of displaced persons, or voter registration.
Disclosed mobile solutions can scan either only fingerprints (U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,036,431 B1, 7,190,817 B1, 6,886,104 B1) or only documents (U.S. Pat. No. 7,245,765 B2) or, if both, then only by linking a plurality of devices. A combined recording of fingerprints and documents is known as mobile device solution from U.S. Pat. No. 7,817,821 B2. This discloses a mobile device which includes a document scanner, a fingerprint scanner and a camera for face recording. It is referred to as a “station” in which various individual devices can be integrated and is accordingly a modular device concept.
None of the prior known technical solutions can capture documents and a plurality of fingerprints simultaneously via an individual optical scanner or can be used wirelessly as handheld portable device.